Research & Scholarship
My research examines how people learn financial concepts and plan to apply them, studying how dual-modality content delivered with interactive digital tools influences self-regulated learning, engagement, and interest development in informal financial education.
Dissertation Complete
Goal Framing & Visualizations' Influence on Self-Regulated Learning of Compound Interest: An Explanatory Mixed Methods Study
Using an explanatory mixed-methods design, I investigated how different goal-framing approaches with visualizations influence engagement, interest, self-regulated learning, and comprehension of compound interest, with an AI chatbot conducting follow-up qualitative interviews with participants.
Research Philosophy
My 15+ years of practitioner experience in financial education ground my research in authentic contexts and real-world challenges.
Practitioner-Researcher
Designing scalable financial education for diverse adult learners with limited time and attention has shaped my research questions from the start. That practitioner experience makes it clear how challenging it can be to get busy adults engaged in learning about their own finances, and why studying what actually works matters.
Explanatory Mixed Methods
Quantitative results drive qualitative interpretation in my work. Experimental designs establish what happens; AI-enabled chatbot interviews help explain why, capturing the self-regulated learning processes, interest development, and engagement experiences that numbers alone can't surface.
Interactive & Multimodal
I study educational content that pairs text with visual media: data visualizations, visual metaphors, interactive calculators, because dual-modality delivery has been shown to support engagement, interest, and comprehension in ways that text alone does not. Intentional design of those tools is central to my research.
Informal Learning Across the Lifespan
Adults need continuing financial education long after formal schooling ends, particularly as markets evolve faster than regulation can follow. The theoretical framework of self-regulated learning, engagement, and interest development, applies across domains wherever short, scalable interventions need to reach diverse learners on their own terms.
Future Directions
My post-dissertation research agenda extends this work in three directions.
Goal Framing & Visual Metaphor
Building on dissertation findings to investigate how framing effects vary across learner characteristics, whether findings generalize to other financial concepts, and what long-term behavioral outcomes look like beyond immediate learning measures.
AI-Enabled Qualitative Research
Refining and validating the AI-facilitated interview methodology, defining its limits, and developing protocols for ethical design of conversational agents in empirical research practice.
Information Design for Behavior Change
Generalizing principles of how information presentation influences understanding and application across domains requiring self-regulated learning, from financial education to health information and sustainability.
Selected Publications
Pellegrini, A., & Beckler, K. (2025). Making financial education accessible through cross-sector partnership: A podcast case study. In A. Betz-Hamilton (Ed.), 2025 AFCPE Symposium Proceedings. AFCPE.
Pellegrini, A. (2024). Review: 2D visualizations to support engagement, interest, and self-regulated learning in financial education. In A. Betz-Harlton (Ed.), 2024 AFCPE Symposium Proceedings (pp. 171–189). AFCPE. ↗ PDF
Pellegrini, A. (2023). Exploratory study on use of visualizations in informal student loan borrower education. In A. Betz-Harlton (Ed.), 2023 AFCPE Symposium Proceedings (pp. 30–41). AFCPE. ↗ PDF
Pellegrini, A., Nalubega-Booker, K., & Hoyle, M. (2021). Familial roles and financial habits of international students studying in the United States. In A. Betz-Harlton (Ed.), 2021 AFCPE Symposium Proceedings (pp. 160–178). AFCPE. ↗ PDF
Pellegrini, A., & Shroyer, J. (2012). A clear path to payment. Business Officer Magazine. ↗ Article
Perry, C., Jasper, I., Pellegrini, A., Alban, K., & Huffman, W. (2012). Financial literacy on campus: Raising awareness, creating and developing programs, and improving effectiveness [White paper]. COHEAO. ↗ PDF